


I'll be there

by SerenePhenix



Series: Sibling Squad to the Rescue [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post Season 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-06-26 11:41:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15662538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerenePhenix/pseuds/SerenePhenix
Summary: “How much did you hear?”While small, there was so much hesitation and guilt in her brother’s voice that she might have considered dropping the matter. Still, Veronica was and would always be too blunt and inquisitive for her own good.“Not too much if I were to be honest,” she admitted. Lance’s shoulders sagged in relief but he still would not look at her, “But that does not mean I did not hear enough.”





	I'll be there

**Author's Note:**

> Unedited and unbetaed

“And you are absolutely sure?”

No hesitation, not a sigh, not a single hitching breath.

“Yeah. I mean, yes. Sir.”

There was a grunt of acknowledgment, not that she could see it from where she stood outside the door that had still to be repaired. A few of the doors still got stuck even with all the repairs that had been conducted since the final stand against the alien invaders.

“Alright, then I shall heed your request and look into the matter,” she could hear the first words of thanks before Iverson interrupted, voice firm but not unkind, “but you might need to reconvene with me so that we can discuss all of the elements that need to be accounted for. As far as I am aware, the Altean advisor – Coran? He did mention the Lions have certain preferences.”

There was a dry chuckle and even after all of these months she could not get used to it.

“More or less. Red tends to be picky.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

A stretch of silence followed the statement, probably because Lance was dissecting the statement, probably unable to identify the hidden praise in those words. Another thing that had changed about him and that had all of them worried.

“If you will excuse me young man, I have a meeting I need to attend. I’ll be seeing you soon.”

“Yes. And thank you, Sir.”

There was the squeaky rolling of a chair being pushed away from a desk and two sets of feet heading towards the door, and she opted to duck behind the wall to her right, keeping still as Iverson and Lance parted ways.

Her younger brother stopped in his tracks as he turned around the corner and his gaze fell on her narrowed eyes.

“Oh, he-hey Veronica. Watcha doing here?”

He was trying for casual, but it was obvious in his tremoring hands and higher pitched voice that he was nervous. Veronica felt her brow crease as Lance fidgeted under her glare.

It was better to cut to the chase right now, when she had caught him off guard, before he could try to play it off – as he so often did nowadays.

“I was asked to bring Iverson these documents,” she shrugged her left arm, drawing Lance’s attention to a thick folder almost bursting with loose papers, “Is something wrong with your Lion?”

It was almost like watching a cat bristle its fur, although Lance did an admirable job at suppressing whatever other reaction the question might have evoked. Blue eyes were now focused firmly on the floor.

“How much did you hear?”

While small, there was so much hesitation and guilt in her brother’s voice that she might have considered dropping the matter. Still, Veronica was and would always be too blunt and inquisitive for her own good.

“Not too much if I were to be honest,” she admitted. Lance’s shoulders sagged in relief but he still would not look at her, “But that does not mean I did not hear enough.”

She tried to go for strict, the way their mother would to pry any sort of secret from them. It had not the intended effect, Lance drawing into himself all the more, his arms winding around him in a feeble attempt to soothe himself.

It was disheartening to see what this war had done to her brother. Taking a step forward, she ruffled his hair and Lance glanced up at her in surprise. She offered him a small smile.

“I’ll let it go for now. But we will talk about this later.”

It might be a trick of the light, but under the harsh fluorescent shine of the lamps her brother’s eyes seemed treacherously bright all of a sudden.

And then he hugged her, squeezing her tight before hurrying down the hall, a short goodbye thrown back over his shoulder at her.

Maybe it was unfair to think that way, but in that moment, Veronica felt that her brother’s back had never looked smaller.

-

It had been a lot to take in.

The fact that he was back, first and foremost.

Then the issue about him not looking the age he was supposed to be, after almost five years of absence.

But most disturbing of all is the disparity between a young man that looks almost unchanged in looks, but who behaves and reacts so differently to the brother who had left for flight school, proclaiming he would become the greatest pilot ever.

It was not an entirely unwelcome change. As far as Veronica could remember, Lance sometimes could be a bit of a brat when he was trying too hard to impress people. It had gotten and all of them into trouble at some point, and not changed much during his stay at the Garrison.

Also, and that had annoyed Veronica a lot whenever they had been stuck with getting groceries and conveniences together, was Lance’s very obnoxious tendency to flirt instead of doing what he had been told to do.

Funny, how she almost missed that side of him. At least, back then, Lance had also been prone to joke along whenever she or any of their siblings would take a jab at him.

Once they had lived in closer quarters after the final battle, the Paladins no longer bunking in a separate part of the Garrison grounds, the changes were stark and irrefutable.

Something she never would have associated with Lance was quiet. In all truth, back when before he had gone off to become a pilot, Lance had been the loudest and most vocal of them all. Whenever she had come back from the Garrison, at a time where she had been but a mere student herself, it had been something she had dreaded and looked forward to.

It just had never been the same when Lance had not been running around, chased after by someone, and later on chasing their nephew and niece himself.

Now, when she returned to their quarters, she often found Lance either asleep in a chair or sitting quietly by the window, not necessarily looking miserable but not entirely at ease either, his blue eyes looking out of the only window in the confined space.

It was natural, to be expected if she were being honest.

Veronica could admit that she had seen a lot of things in these past three years, thing she wished she could forget, but she could only imagine what Lance had seen at the frontlines as one of the figureheads of this war.

Not that Lance ever delved into that beyond the stories he told their niblings before bedtime, and if she had to guess, then she would say that much of it was heavily censored.

Because, even if Lance did try to tell his encounter with a gigantic sea space worm as lightly and entertainingly as possible, neither she nor the rest of the family could shake the feeling that having been backed into a corner with a monster advancing on you, could have been nothing short of terrifying.

And it obviously was, because many nights, Lance tended to wake up and not go back to sleep. They had tried everything: getting him to talk about it, a bit of tea they’d been saving for special occasions to calm him down, but Lance’s lips remained firmly sealed.

Luckily, he had not grown averse to touch. Veronica was not sure if their family, especially the small ones and their mother, could have handled that much of a change. She did notice though how entangled Lance’s fingers would become in her shirt or dress whenever she would opt to stay up with him for the remainder of the night.

The most disturbing thing that had changed about Lance though, had to be his humor.

Veronica was no fool. She had seen enough horror and heartache during the Galra’s relatively short reign of terror to understand that it was a coping mechanism for many to joke about doom, gloom and death.

And Lance, with the role he and the rest of his friends had played in the war, would not be an exception.  
Still, while they had been in the small cramped kitchen space, trying to prepare something with their sparse ingredients, Marco had dropped a comment about a friend of his who had a limp now after a terrible burn from the aftermath of an explosion.

Lance had given a dry chuckle, eyes not really seeing the potatoes he had been peeling.

“Yeah, getting blown up is not fun. But let me tell you, getting grilled by a whooping million volt is no fun either. Shouldn’t have been much of a shocking revelation, really.”

She remembered how everything had grown eerily still at that moment, Lance not stopping in his task, oblivious to the horror that had frozen even the kids as they all stared at him.

It had taken him a second to realize that the atmosphere had changed, and once he looked up and took a moment to look at them… Veronica would never forget the expression of pure dismay on his face.

He had apologized lowly, quietly, turning back to the task at hand, avoiding any and all eye-contact with them as they tried to remember what they were supposed to do.

Try as they may, Lance had never once again acknowledged what he’d let slip that afternoon, careful to never show that side of himself again – especially in front of the kids.

Something that his adventure in space had brought of Lance though, was his kindness and a patience they never would have guessed him to possess.

Lance had been easy to fly off the handle the moment you messed a little with him or knocked him down from his self-made pedestal. It had been entertaining when they’d been younger, Lance retaliating in the same manner.

Now, he laughed along more easily, was more willing to take their jokes in stride, kept calm even when the kids kept pestering him when he was obviously exhausted. The war had hardened him in some places but had definitely not made him unkind or unfeeling like so many other Veronica knew.

Concerning the team, Lance was very vocal about his feelings: Hunk, whom he had already dubbed a genius in class and in the kitchen in the Garrison, was now the smartest mechanic from here to Weblum… wherever that may be. Pidge, whom they had heard little about before Lance’s vanishing act, turned out to not only be a girl but one of the smartest people Lance knew. Keith, the boy Veronica herself remembered for being a prodigy under Shirogane’s tutelage, was now no longer Lance’s greatest rival and annoyance, but apparently a good friend and leader. If Shiro had not already been Lance’s hero before Voltron, he seemed all the more impressed by the man’s fortitude and strength. Coran, while eccentric, obviously had snatched the title of favorite uncle from Julio, Romelle, though their newest addition was a strong woman in her own right, and Kosmo, Kaltenecker, and the famed space mice the best companions they could have asked for. Admittedly, Veronica would have loved to hear more about the dear princess Allura, but after one too many comments and jokes it was actually a bit difficult to get him to admit anything more than that she obviously was incredible, kind, strong, amazing, and that Lance was very much smitten with the young lady.

It was, without question, an amazing assortment of individuals to oppose an empire that had prevailed and thrived over the course of ten thousand years.

And Lance being part of such an incredible team, spoke for itself.

-

Veronica allowed Lance a few more days of blissful ignorance, leaving him to play with the kids or rest like he did so often now.

Still, when word reached her ear that Lance was to come to Iverson’s office about two weeks later, she decided it was time to strike.

The old-fashioned door with a handle creaked a little as she joined Lance near the window, sitting next to him as her brother kept on watching the on-goings in the yard, guards changing shifts. Maybe it was unnecessary, no one had seen any hostile Galra since the last battle, but everyone was still on edge and if technology failed, then there would still be actual people on the lookout.

Lance thanked her as she shoved a mug at him, taking a few sips while still looking outside, eyes now focused on a glittering canopy.

It was peaceful, almost.

“It’s amazing out there. I wish you all could have seen it.”

Turning her head, she found Lance smiling slightly.

“I can imagine,” she said, taking a long sip from her tea. It was more watery than she would have liked. Her brother’s vehement but quiet response had her almost choking.

“No, you really can’t.”

Veronica adjusted her glasses, ready to give Lance a piece of her mind, but the words got stuck in her throat.

Still no eye-contact, but the face he was making, filled with wonder and longing was beyond anything she could have anticipated or comprehended. Maybe her brother was right. Maybe there were things she never could conceive, not even in a lifetime.

Silence prevailed and stretched, neither of them really sure where to start. By now, Lance must have realized why she was here with him.

“Do you think it’s selfish if I decided to stay?”

Veronica blinked at Lance. If she hadn’t known better, she would have believed it was an old, old man staring at her imploringly, his blue eyes sad and conflicted.

Her empty cup clinked against the synthetic resin floor.

“Is that why you’ve been to Iverson’s office?”

A nod and the creaking of fabric was her answer as Lance fisted his hands into his favorite jacket.

“Do _you_ think it is?”

Lance appeared bewildered by the question, mouth agape, opening and closing. In the end, he only sunk into himself more, knees drawing up to his chest.

“I don’t know.”

He sounded broken as he mumbled into his sleeve. There was no mistaking the tears brimming in his eyes now.

Wordlessly, Veronica opened her arms wide, inviting her younger brother and Lance was quick to accept, scooting over until his head was resting on her shoulder while leaned against her front. Instinctively, her hand wandered up to card through his hair, and she felt Lance relax further into the embrace.

“I can hardly speak for you or your teammates. There’s too many things I don’t know about to give you an answer, Lance,” His hair tickled her chin as he gave a tiny nod, “As far as I can see, the main threat of the universe is gone now, so maybe this Voltron is not needed anymore.”

“Maybe.”

“You don’t think so?”

A shrug. Veronica sighed, regretting it the moment Lance tensed up.

“Sorry, I’m being an idiot.”

She frowned.

“No. You are not. This is something important to consider and a problem you will have to confront sooner or later anyway.”

She waited, for what exactly she didn’t know, but she was taken aback by the chocked sniffles coming from Lance.

“I don’t know if I can do this anymore.”

Veronica was not prepared for the sudden onslaught of tears. Squeezing her eyes shut, she briefly tightened her embrace, Lance’s fingers once again tangling in her shirt. The remains of what could have been tears stung her eyes as she glanced down at the brown mop of hair.

“Voltron you mean?”

It was not really a question, but Lance nodded into her shoulder anyway.

“I’m tired. I don’t wanna fight anymore.”

Something searing and yet ice cold was stirring in Veronica’s chest, a need to protect, to keep safe.

“If you don’t want to, you don’t have to,” she said simply, although deep down she knew it could not be that easy. It never was.

There was an audible gulp from beneath her chin, and Lance’s voice had grown treacherously watery.

“I’m just scared they won’t understand. Keith was so mad when Hunk even brought the possibility up,” he whispered, squirming so he probably could wipe the tears away, “And I get it with Hunk – he’s the genius mechanic and combined with Pidge they are unstoppable.”

The fondness in his voice was sweet but could not gloss over his obvious distress.

“It is only logical. You are a cohesive team, all of you have your role to play in it.”

“Not really.”

Veronica froze just like Lance. She was onto something here, something she would not like, something she could feel deep within herself that she would not like but could not put a name to yet. And Lance seemed to feel like that had been a mistake on his part, because once again he was stiff as a board.

“Care to explain?”

He did not. Instead, he was preparing to get up, but Veronica had her brother ensnared in a tight hold before he could even get his feet under himself.

“Hey,” he hissed, trying to look at her, “what’s the big idea!”

Veronica was entirely unwilling to play along.

“I said: explain not run off.”

He had grown strong, proven by how he managed to already push her arms further apart. Time for the really dirty tricks then.

“I am not above bringing mom into this.”

His head snapped around so fast she was afraid he had snapped something. His voice was dripping with indignation.

“You wouldn’t…”

“Try me.”

They remained locked in that uncomfortable position for a long time, staring each other down. But there was no way Veronica was letting her brother run out of a conversation that needed to be finished.

It felt like forever as slowly the fight bled out of Lance. Veronica allowed herself to relax marginally, giving Lance the chance to lean back into her again. Surprisingly, he did.

The lights of one of their land rovers were heading towards the city, the yellow light still feebly with no reliable power source yet.

Lance’s voice was filled with resignation and bone deep exhaustion.

“Everyone. Every single one of the others has an important part to play in the team,” he lifted his hand, listing off Pidge’s name first as his thumb pressed against his palm, “Pidge is our coding genius, ready to give us intel and options for our plans.”

Pointer finger and a chuckle. “Hunk is our other genius and mechanic, and we would have probably starved without him. We’d also probably have died without him.”

Middle finger. “Keith has now become our leader. It’s a good thing he’s on our side. He’d skewer us no time.”

Ring finger and an undeniable softness creeping into his voice. “Allura, our heart and one of the strongest and smartest fighters we have on the team. There probably would be no Voltron without her.”

All that was left was the pinky and inevitably Lance himself. Yet, instead of listing off his position as sniper as she would have suspected, Lance just let his hand sink, heaving a long sigh.

“And you,” she tried in vain, Lance only giving her a noncommittal noise for her effort.

Slightly annoyed, she tried again.

“You’re the sharpshooter, are you not?”

He shrugged.

“I guess.”

There was the inkling of frustration coursing through her veins at his apathy.

“There is no guessing. If I need to remind you Lance, I was there to see it.”

Still not a discernable reaction. It did not help her mounting frustration.

“It was pretty amazing to watch. I remember your scores from when you were still a cadet. You already were a good shot back then. I wonder what else you can do now.”

A glimmer of hope and satisfaction blossomed in her chest when finally Lance gave a breathy chuckle, but dimmed quickly at what came out of his mouth afterwards.

“The bayards really are amazing. Ouch!”

She had flicked him on the head.

“Not the bayard. You.”

Twisting around in her hold their eyes met. This time the tears could not be stopped, neither the stifled sob Lance tried to further muffle into his sleeve.

He jerked a few times, not because he was trying to run away but because he wanted to not wake up the others. Sad but accepting, Veronica did her best to soothe her brother, her throat feeling very tight at every pained sound that came from Lance as he tried to regain his composure.

She wondered if anyone had noticed, if they had kept quiet out of respect. She hoped so.

The dark indigo of the night was receding at the horizon, a first pale glimmer of dawn visible in the distance as Veronica held Lance. She had not realized they’d been sitting here for so long.

Lance’s hiccups grew less intense but his hold on her did not waver. She bowed down, placing a gentle kiss on his head.

He was, as far as he was concerned, barely twenty and yet he had seen so much heartache and destruction and faced it with his friends every day.

It was so unfair that had to deal with these kinds of feelings when he was nothing short of a hero.

He did not deserve to feel this way.

“You are amazing, Lance,” she whispered into his hair and she knew he was listening by how he was holding his breath, “And I’ll always be thankful that you protected us, both out there and when you came back.”

He was crying again but Veronica wanted him to hear this. He needed to know.

“And if you feel that you can’t fight anymore, then I want you to know that you’ll always have a sister who will always be proud of you. No matter what your decision will be, I’ll be there to support you.”

And she held him, even when his sobs became loud and harsh enough to wake up the rest of the family.

But when she smiled at her family sadly, holding firmly onto her younger brother, and watched as everyone gather to join them, she felt that this was the start of a long journey for all of them.

And she would be there for Lance every step of the way.


End file.
